5of5Just as he was the center of attention at Rockets practice, James Harden will be the focus of defenses.Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

ATLANTA - Having been brought to the Rockets to do much more than provide adult supervision, Carlos Delfino did not just watch James Harden's eye-popping debut, he examined it. He did not just cheer, he imagined.

Harden did what was necessary to lift the Rockets past the Detroit Pistons 105-96 in Wednesday's opener and to put himself in the fast company of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade for a single-game stat line and beyond them for numbers in a debut.

While Harden rolled to 37 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and four steals, Delfino saw possibilities that went beyond Harden's production to what could come for those now in his orbit.

The Rockets know they will have to react to the defensive adjustments sure to come. They don't expect Harden to put up those kinds of numbers nightly. But for those rolling to the hoop or firing 3-pointers from the corners, they have seen enough to expect much more.

"I'm super happy," said Delfino, who hit four of five 3-pointers in the fourth-quarter surge past the Pistons, all on passes from Harden or Jeremy Lin. "I love an open shot. Sometimes you have to force shots. I don't think I'm going to force too many this season. They demand the ball in their hands, but you know it's not for their own. It's for everybody."

More Information

Uncharted territory

James Harden is the first NBA player to score 37 or more points in his team debut while having a double-digit assist total.

Elite company

Joined Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade as the only players in the 25 years to post at least 37 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 block in a game.

Peerless debut

Scored the most points in a Rockets debut after being acquired via trade or free agency.

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No longer third wheel

Harden received interview requests from ESPN and TNT, the "Dan Patrick Show" and the "Jim Rome Show." But he seemed happiest with a text from a friend who's a superstar role model and former teammate in Oklahoma City.

"Kevin (Durant) texted me and told me, 'Way to hoop. Way to go out there and play basketball,' " Harden said. "Coming from Kevin, that meant the world to me. That's what a brother would do.

"I learned a lot from those guys (Durant and Russell Westbrook). Every single game and every single practice, they prepared themselves to be great. Everybody on that team showed me something that can help me as a person and as a basketball player."

The Rockets acquired Harden and signed him to an $80 million extension to play that role, but his play under the circumstances, just days after the trade, may have been a revelation. For Daequan Cook, traded with Harden after playing with him on the Thunder's second unit, his play was standard operating procedure.

"He always could do that," Cook said. "He had the ability to do that with our second team. Last night, he showed he could do that with this team. I wasn't surprised.

"He was kind of limited playing behind Russell and KD. He could only do so much. But now he has the opportunity to be the focal point of this team. He does a great job scoring, getting people involved and attacking."

Combating defenses

Others surely have noticed. If that were not a safe enough assumption, it will be clear beginning Friday when the Hawks swarm to get the ball out of his hands.

"I told James, 'We're going to have to move you around a little more and be creative,' " Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "You watch a guy go for 37 and 12 and you start thinking, 'We might want to pay a little attention to that guy.' He'll get a lot of attention, I'm sure.

"Normally, the first pass out of the blitz is the start of where you want to go. Then it's the second passer, the second drive that really exploits it."

After three practices and a morning shootaround, the Rockets ran their offense smoothly, with Harden and Lin running pick-and-roll and picking apart the Pistons. But they routinely got their teammates good shots - centers Omer Asik and Greg Smith made a combined nine of 10 shots - with just one pass. That won't last.

The success of the Rockets' offense might come from the next pass and the pass after that. The pick-and-rolls that were enough Wednesday will have to be backed up with another pick-and-roll and another.

"We're not going to be able to do what we did yesterday every day," Lin said. "We're going to hit some walls, and so it then becomes like a chess match where we have to start figuring out how to counter their counters.

"As the season goes on, our first option, we're not going to get anymore. Against a really good defensive team, we won't get the first or second option. It's developing that chemistry, that movement, to get swing, swing, pass-pass combinations, pass-cut combinations and break the defense down over a period of time."

'Tremendously gifted'

Still, the Rockets were thrilled to have the sort of player who changes defenses and "super happy" to have the challenge of answering.

"He's just a tremendously gifted young man, and he's going to just get better and better," McHale said. "But he's also going to draw more attention, so we've got to figure out as coaches and players how we can give him more room and help him continue to really shine out there."

Jonathan Feigen has been the Rockets beat writer since 1998 and a basketball nut since before Willis Reed limped out for Game 7. He became a sports writer because the reporter that was supposed to cover the University of Delaware basketball team decided to instead play one more season of college lacrosse and has never looked back.

Feigen, who has won APSE, APME and United States Basketball Writers Association awards from El Campo to Houston, came to Texas in 1981 to cover the Rice Birds, was Sports Editor in Garland before moving to Dallas to cover everything from the final hurrah of the Southwest Conference to SMU after the death penalty.

After joining the Houston Chronicle in 1990, Feigen has covered the demise of the SWC, the rise of the Big 12 and the Rockets at their championship best.